Jonah Smith

Jonah Smith is an American musician, singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. He began his career as a solo artist in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York. He has recorded several records and was a semi-finalist on Season 9 of America's Got Talent. He was born in Syracuse, New York.

Education

Smith attended University of Miami (Florida) for one semester. While in Miami, Smith became friends with Stephen Glover, who would later be known as Steve-O. Smith transferred to the University of Vermont, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. While in Vermont, Smith played with many different bands and performed in clubs all over Vermont. His main group was called Funk's G. They played regularly in Burlington opening for national acts like Government Mule, Andy Summers and Groove Collective. Smith co-lead this band and wrote several songs in its repertoire. The group never recorded. During this time, Smith also played as a sideman in a group called Orange Factory with John Hill on bass. During the summer of 1996, Smith interned with Bobby Hackney in exchange for studio time, Hackney was the co-founder of the Vermont Reggae Fest. He is also the singer of the band Death.

Early career (Boston 1998–2000)

In 1998, Smith moved to Boston where he started a new band. He made a demo tape with musicians Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno, and Goapele that was engineered by Jeff Bhasker. This tape helped secure a solid line up of musicians that would perform all over Boston and surrounding areas as Deluxe. The core group contained Smith, Ben Rubin on bass (who played with Smith in Vermont), Ryan Gruss on drums, and Bob Reynolds on saxophone. After two years of building an audience in Boston, the band played its final show at the original House of Blues in Harvard Square to a sold-out crowd. The next morning, Smith moved to Brooklyn, New York, along with Ben Rubin.

Career (Brooklyn 2000–2013)

In 2000, Smith started performing under his own name. With Ben Rubin and Bob Reynolds as holdovers from Deluxe, Smith added drummer, Marko Djordjevic and guitarist, David Soler to form a new group. They recorded Smith's debut album, Industry Rule, at the end of 2000. The album was completed in under a week.

The sound of the album was a mixture of soul, jazz and blues and the material was mostly inspired by Smith's recent move to New York to pursue music. The album was well received by the New York press and soon led to a regular spot at the famed 55 Bar after Smith was discovered by its owner, Queva Lutz.

In 2003, Smith returned to the studio to record his follow up, Beneath the Underdog, with co-producer Jason Olaine. The song, “Tell It To The Mountain” from that record won the first Jamoff the following year – a contest that was sponsored by Relix magazine. Smith was invited to play a showcase in New York where he met owner, Steve Bernstein. Their relationship continued when Bernstein decided to re-launch Relix Records, a label that had long been dormant. Smith was the first artist signed to the new Relix Records.

In 2006, Relix Records released Jonah Smith, the self-titled "debut". It was produced by Lee Townsend and featured the same lineup as the other two albums with the addition of guests like Garth Hudson of The Band and Carrie Rodriguez. Starting that year and into 2007, Smith embarked on several cross-country tours in the United States as well as an extended tour in Spain. During this time he opened for several well-known artists, including Madeleine Peyroux, Little Feat, Martin Sexton, Taj Mahal, the Subdudes, James Hunter, Los Lobos, Marc Broussard, The Wood Brothers, Jimmy Vaughn, The BoDeans, Andy McKee and others. The songs My Morning Scene and When We Say Goodnight received airplay at many triple A radio stations in the US as well as satellite radio. In early 2007, My Morning Scene won Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song at the 6th Annual Independent Music Awards. This record, being the first promoted on a national scale, gained Smith a wider audience and landed him a spot at 2007s Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee and the Langerado Festival in South Florida in March 2008.[2]

In 2009 Smith released two records. Lights On was produced by Malcolm Burn. Smith was an early adaptor of the fan-funding method, which he used to finance the making of Lights On after Relix Records ceased operations. This led to an interview and feature in the Huffington Post. He also released an acoustic record called, Brooklyn Session, which was made in one afternoon with guitarist, Andy Stack and engineer/producer, Teddy Kumpel. The song, "World Without Love" became a staple on the Sirius/XM Coffeehouse station.

In 2012 Smith released Little Known Cure again using fan funding. Another band Smith started called The Statesmen released their debut record. The group featured Smith on co-lead vocals and keys, Josh Dion on co-lead vocals and drums, Scott Metzger on guitar and Ben Rubin on bass. The record was distributed in Japan through Buffalo Records. The album was nominated for Best Rock Record at the 12th Annual Independent Music Awards.

Los Angeles (2013–present)

Not long before relocating from Brooklyn to Los Angeles at the end of 2012, Smith made an acoustic recording with Andy Stack in his kitchen in Long Island City. Smith would finish and release the record, aptly named “In The Kitchen” in mid 2013. The song, Big Umbrella was spun frequently on SiriusXM’s Coffeehouse station and is one of Smith's most popular songs.

America’s Got Talent (Season 9)

Smith auditioned for the show in Los Angeles and was asked to fly to New York to tape a live performance in front of the judges in April 2014. He sang his original song Skyscraper Blues and received a standing ovation from judges Howard Stern and Howie Mandel. He advanced to the next round and performed his unique version of Can’t Find My Way Home by Blind Faith, which further impressed the judges. Also, during this week Smith replaced his drummer, which became part of the storyline of the episode. Smith performed Stay With Me in the quarter final round and again received praise from the judges. Heidi Klum serenaded Smith during her comments. In the Semi-Final round, Smith performed One Republic's Till The Love Runs Out. The song impressed judge Mel B and host Nick Cannon but Howard Stern thought it was a poor song choice. It ended up being Smith's final performance on the show.

Not long after that, Smith signed a deal with Music Road Records. In May 2016, they released his record, Easy Prey. The record has guest appearances by Ruthie Foster, David Hidalgo, Lucius, Adam Levy and Bob Reynolds. Heavy Hangs The Crown from that record was nominated for Best Blues Song at the 15th Independent Music Awards.

In June 2017, Smith released Stay Close – the third acoustic record made with Andy Stack. He returned to the fan-funding model for this record after taking a step back from Music Road. The record was recorded to an old Ampex tape machine in Stack's studio in Beacon, New York. The record also features singer Melissa Ahern on several songs. The song "Ocala" was featured on The Washington Post's online edition home page on Christmas Day 2016 – months before its release in a story called, Grace, Unwrapped. Compare Your Blues made the playlist at SiriusXM's Coffeehouse channel.

Discography

Albums
  • Industry Rule (2001)
  • Beneath the Underdog (2003)
  • Jonah Smith (2006)
  • Brooklyn Session (2008)
  • Lights On (2009)
  • The Statesmen (2012)
  • Little Known Cure (2012)
  • In the Kitchen (2013)
  • Easy Prey (2016)
  • Stay Close (2017)

Singles
  • "Skyscraper Blues" (2014)

References
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